Procuring, Managing, and Evaluating the Performance of Contracted TMC Services

and Scheduling for Day-to-Day Operations report presents some of these tools.(y)

Some of the issues to consider in contracting for TMC staff are:

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Development and maintenance of a staffing plan, including periodic updates to adjust to growth needs or turnover in staff – The staffing plan should consider use of part-time employees, hours of operation (i.e., 24-7 operation), etc.

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Minimum number of staff for a function or service – Consideration should be given to the minimum number of staff needed for a TMC function. For example, how many operators are needed for night and weekend TMC operation? For safety and security reasons, an agency might want to require a minimum of two persons on each shift.

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Hiring and termination policies – Consideration should be given to minimum length of time to hire staff, relocation fees for new hires, and procedures for termination.

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Resignation and filling vacancy requirements – Consideration should be given on rules for how the contracted services are replaced to how fill contracted services.

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Pay rates – Consideration should be given to minimum and maximum pay rates of contracted staff. Minimum and maximum rates may be used to try to keep some equity between common staff located in a TMC; however, there should be some caution in not restricting other public or private agencies from meeting the staffing goals (both in terms of expertise or timeliness of hiring).

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Benefits and taxes to be paid to contracted staff – If contracted staff is from a private agency, the benefits are usually included within the overhead rate. Private firms may offer an “on-site” overhead rate that may or may not include the same items as the full overhead rate.

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Work rules for holidays, vacation, and sick leave (some agencies and firms will combine vacation and sick into a common leave category) – Consideration should be given to the rules for contracted staff to take holidays, vacation leave, or sick leave, especially for those holidays in common with both public and private agencies.

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Overtime pay / Compensation time – Consideration should be given to rules for overtime pay and compensation time. Working in a TMC environment requires reacting to emergency situations. These emergency situations have high variability in duration. It is easy for staff to accumulate extra time during these events.

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Duties during “essential employee” events (e.g., snow storms or hurricanes) – Consideration should be given to the “essential” nature of specific contracted staff.

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Qualifications, including computer expertise or specialized transportation management expertise – Consideration should be given to the minimum computer expertise needed for different TMC positions. For example, are word processing/spreadsheet skills or software development skills needed?

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Written and verbal language requirements – Consideration should be given to any minimum requirements for written and verbal communication.